


Gamble

by FixaIdea



Category: Maurice (1987), Maurice - E. M. Forster
Genre: Fluff, Introspection, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-08 04:17:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21229682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FixaIdea/pseuds/FixaIdea
Summary: About to sail for France with Maurice, Alec reflects a bit on his choices.





	Gamble

Obviously Alec had been conscious of what an enormous leap of faith he was making when he let the ship sail without him and trusted Maurice to show up at the boathouse, but still, the full weight of his decision - or rather what could have come of it - only hit him much, much later.

When it finally did, it came down on him like a tonne of bricks. He was sitting in a pub in Dover, beside Maurice, a ticket to France in each of their pockets. Besides them, at the bar, an old man was talking. Alec only gradually started to pay attention, but apparently he was complaining about his niece’s employer, and how he was making eyes at her.

‘Keeps promising the stars to her, the bastard. Marriage even!’

‘Well, let them marry!’ a young man commented ‘Would make her go right up in the world!’

The old man stared as if the youth sprouted another head.

‘Bollocks! You can’t think he would really do that! Folks like ‘im, they don’t sees the likes of us as people. We’re just things for ‘em to use. She’ll be lucky if this ain’t ending in a dead baby or her out on the street.’

Alec shifted a little, suddenly uncomfortable. The sentiment was familiar - there was a brief but horrible time, before the British Museum, when he believed Maurice to be just such a man.

‘But what if he means it? There must be exceptions, right?’ the unknown young man went on.

His old companion shook his head gravely.

‘No exceptions.’

Alec bristled at that. He wanted to brag, to tell them off, to show off his wonderful man, but of course he knew it was impossible. Still, he shot a sideways glance at Maurice - no use, the man was completely engrossed in a timetable.

Once back in their room and changed for bed, Alec settled on his back, letting his friend rest his head on his chest, just as he liked to do. He stared up at the ceiling. He wanted to sleep, but the exchange at the bar would not leave him be. Not that he was worried about his future, it was more like a retroactive dread and a sense of awe over how his impossible gamble paid off - against all chance and reason.

It hadn’t always been easy for Maurice, adjusting to their new life. It even included a memorable occasion of literally crying over spilled milk. Exhausted and frustrated over too little sleep, being constantly ordered about and belittled by bosses spilled over one night when he dropped and broke a jug. He spent the next five minutes staring at it with glassy eyes, seemingly not even realising he was crying. Still, he persisted. He adapted and learned, and never looked back at his old life. 

This, as much if not even more than all the embraces, the kisses, the shared laughter and the soft ‘_I love you_’s in bed, cemented Alec’s faith in the strength and sincerity of their bond.

Alec smiled and ran a hand through his sleeping lover’s hair. Maurice said it was a one in a thousand chance they’d met. He was wrong of course.

It was exactly a one-inna-millon chance.

But, Alec knew, one-inna-million chances were bound to crop up nine times out of ten.

**Author's Note:**

> (Yup, that's a Discworld reference.)


End file.
